Draft attachment for motor-vehicles.



0'. E. RITZMANN. DRAFT ATTACHMENT FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, 1910.

Patented Sept 27,1910.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET l. I I

' lluumtn r lilitnmuvs v 0. E. RITZMANN. DRAFT ATTACHMENT FOR MOTORVEHICLES.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 29, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Elilnwam Alluring were a. RITZMANN, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, assienola r'orenames acro PULL or nnrnorr, MICHIGAN, A oonroaarion. or imionioaiv.

DRAFT ATTACHMENT FOB M OTOR-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented @iept. 2?, 11910.,

Application filed April 29. 1910. Serial No. 558,327.

To all whom it may concern:

Be-it known that I, Or'ro E. RITZMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne, State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft Attachments forMotor-Vehicles; and I do declare the fellowing to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it apsimple and eiiicient means adapted to bedetaohably secured to the hub of the drive wheel of a motor vehicle,whereby a rope or cable may be wound thereon for the pur pose of drawingthe vehicle out of a rut iii the road, or for moving'it onto hard groundwhen stalled in the mud. The above object is attained by the deviceillustrated in the accompanying drawin 's, in which I b 1* ig ire 1 is ageneral View, showing the application of my invention to the hub of therear or drive 'wheel of an automobile. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view inelevation lookingat the side of the hub, showing my drar't devicemounted upon. and cooperating with the hub of the drive wheel of a motorvehicle. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2, looking atthe end of the hub. Fig. 1- is a perspective view of one of the sectorplates with its hinged arm attached to the inner end thereof, and withthe clamping bail passed through the outer end of saidplate. Fig. 5'isan elevation of the clip employed to clamp the arm of the sectorplate tothe hub of the wheel.

Referring to the characters of reference, l designates the drive wheelof a motor vehicle mounted in the usual manner upon the rear axle 2 andcarrying the customary extension hub 3. To afford a winding drum whichmay be mounted on said hub in a manner to cooperate therewith to windthereon one end of a rope or cable, whose opposite end is attached to afixed support, I employ a plurality of sector plates 4 wh ch areconcave-convex in cross section, being curved to coincide with andembrace a portion of the periphery of the hub 3. 1n the application ofmy invention illustrated herein, I have shown two of said plates, eachof which has attached-thereto an arm 5 pivoted to the inner end thereofupon a pin 6 passing through an eye 7 at the end of said arm 65 andthrough the parallel ears 8 formed integral with said plate, and betweenwhich said eye is received. Each of said arms 5 adjacent its point ofhinged connection with the plate 1- is provided. with a bend 9 to allowit to clear. the flange 10 of the hub and permit its outer end to lieparallel with the spoke 11 of the wheel to which it is attached.

in order to provide for firmly securing the free ends of the arms 5 tothe spokes of the wheel, the outer portions of said arms are curved topartially embrace the rounded portion of said spokes, whereby arelatively lateral movement between said parts when secured together, isobviated. To clamp the hinged arms securely to the spokes, the clips 12are employed which embrace the arms and spokes and whose threadedterminals passthrough the apertured ends ofthe cross bars-13 which slideupon the terminals of said clips and are provided with a concaved face14 to fit the contour of the spokes. In order to prevent marringthespokes of the wheel the clips 12 are provided with a lining 15 ofleather, or analogous material, and the curved faces 1% of the cli s 12are provided with a similar lining 16. To bind the clips 12 securely inplace so as to fasten thearms 5 firmly to the spokes, nuts 17 arescrewed onto the threaded terminals 18 of the clips and against theouter face of the cross bars 13, as clearly shown in Fig. 5.

As before stated, the sector plates 4 embrace the periphery of the huband lie in contact therewith, and to prevent any abrasive action of saidplates thereon, they are lined; with non abrasive material 19, clearlyshown in Fig. 1. The outer ends of the plates 4 project beyond the endof the hub and are fastened together, and at the same time clamped tothe hub by means of the yoke 20 whose parallel terminals pass throughregistering apertures in the free 9 ends of said plates and receive thenuts 21 which are threaded thereto. To prevent the yoke being drawnthrough the plates by the action of the screws 21, the looped endthereof is provided with the shoulders 22 adapted to bear upon the flatfaces of the bosses 23 around the openings in the plate through whichsaid yoke passes, the nuts 21 upon the free ends of said yoke screwingagainst the bosses 24 which surround the openings in the plate throughwhich the free ends of said 'yoke pass, thereby en abling said yoke toexert a clamping action upon the plates to bind them to the hub when thenuts 21 are tightened. The projecting ends of the yoke 20 act as a guardor fiangeto prevent the rope or "cable 25 slipping off 01" the outer endof the plates during the operation of winding said rope thereon. 1

In the application of my invention utter the sector plates have beenattached to the hub, as before described, one end of the rope 25 is madefast to a stake 26, or other fixed support, and the opposite end wrappedaround the segmental drum on the hub formed by the plates 4, the end ofthe rope being then secured to one of the spokes of the wheel, as shownin Fig. 1. When the parts are so positioned, a rotation of the rear ordrive wheel by the application or" the power of the motor thereto, willcause the rope to wind upon the drum on the hub thereof and draw the carforward, as will be well understood. By this arrangement the power ofthe motor may be utilized to extract the car when stalled in the mud,under circumstances where the drive wheels have not sufiicient tractionto move the car forward.

By hinging the arms 5 to the sectorplates said arms may be swung intocontact with said plates, thereby enabling the parts to be moreconveniently placed in a tool box.

It will be noted that the arrangement is such as to enable the parts tobe readily at tached to ahub when required, and. easily and quicklyremoved.

Having thus fully set forth my-invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with the hub and drive wheel of a motor vehicle, of aplurality ofsector plates embracing said huh and cooperating therewithto form a seg- 2. The combination with the drive wheel of a motorvehicle, of a plurality of sector plates embracing the hub of said wheeland cooperating therewith to form a winding drum, each of said plateshaving an arm adapted to lie parallel with a spoke of the wheel, meansfor clamping said arms to said spokes, and means for clamping saidplates to the hub.

The combination with the drive wheel of a motor vehicle, of a segmentaldrum adapted to embrace the hub oi said-wheel and cooperate therewith toform a winding drum, each part of said drum having an arm hinged theretoadapted to lie parallel with a spoke of the wheel, means for clampingsaid arms to said spokes, and means for fastening the parts or" saiddrum to the hub.

at. A segmental drum for the hub of a drive wheel, comprising aplurality of sector plates adapted to embrace said hub, each platehaving means for attachment to the wheel, and a clamping yoke passingthrough said plates for ciarnping them upon the hub. 5. A winding drumfor the hub of a. drive wheel, 'comprising a plurality of sector plates,arms on said plates adapte for attachment to the spokes of the drivewheel, a clamping yoke passing through said plates for clamping themupon the hub, the end of said yoke projecting beyond the periphery ofsaid plates to serve as a guard or flange for the rope which is wound onsaid drum. Y

6. A segmental drum for attachment to the hub of a drive wheel,comprising sector" plates, each plate having a hinged arm attached toone end thereof and adapted to be coupled to the hub of a wheel, and aclamping yoke passing through the outer ends ot'said plates and havingterminal portions projecting beyond the periph ry' thereof. a I Intestimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses. Y

OTTO E. BITZMANN.

Witnesses E. S. i VHEELER, I. G. Hownnr'r.

